


from a shallow reflection, to a burning dawn

by SetsunaDrive



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: M/M, they're little kids in this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-11
Updated: 2018-02-11
Packaged: 2019-03-16 19:14:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13642710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SetsunaDrive/pseuds/SetsunaDrive
Summary: Beneath the stars, they swear an oath.(The constellations will not hear them, but they don't need to be held to it. Not now, not ever - together, they are unbreakable.)





	from a shallow reflection, to a burning dawn

Prince Noctis was not, and never wound be ‘most children’. This equated to many differences ranging from small but significant to massive, gaping chasms that dug themselves between the boy and his classmates, foreboding and filled with promises that they could never be closed. That their joys could never be his.

Ignis Scientia considers himself there to bridge those gaps. 

Together in the slowly fading evening light they scurry across the marble floors of the Citadel, containing their excitement with a nervous tension that threatens to break with each giggle that escapes Noctis as another guard passes without so much as turning to face their hiding spot. 

Ignis' face is stony serious and his body is poised with every muscle alert; ready to either flee or freeze. Their mission to get outside and see the snow is as serious to him as any mission ever will be in this moment and he won’t allow a failure for him or his companion. The serious look dips for just a moment, his face suddenly back to resembling the young boy he truly is as the silent air is interrupted by a barely stifled giggle from behind him. 

He tugs on the small hand clasped in his. “Noct, you have to be quiet!” He whispers, exasperated that his advice isn’t being taken seriously despite the consequences they could face for this. 

They could be grounded…   
Or maybe even worse.. disciplined by the King himself.

A shiver of nerves went through him at the thought of the kindly King wagging his finger as he told them off, Ignis for for shirking his duty to protect the Prince and noctis for breaking the clear safety protocals he was supposed to follow regarding when he was allowed to play outside. “Do you want to get told off by the King?”

Noctis shuffled forward on his knees and pressed his forehead between the shoulder blades of the other boy, enjoying warming his nose in the fabric as they crouched together behind a marble statue.   
“No.. but I don’t think he’d mind really. If we could have actually asked him instead of that stupid guard who never lets me through, he probably wouldn’t have minded.” Then again.. it was a school night. The boy huffed, nudging Ignis forward again. “We won’t get told off if we don’t get caught anyway, so we should hurry up, right Iggy?”

Ignis nodded in affirmation. “Okay.. get ready...”   
One final glance both ways to check the coast was clear.  
“Okay, go!” The boys stood up and ran, light footed as cats, to the unlocked garden doors. They quickly lifting the latch and opened the heavy oak panels just enough to slip through.  
“Go go go Iggy! Quick, I can hear the guard coming back!” Noctis urged. He could feel himself trembling with the rush and quickly shoved his friend through the gap before he could insist Noctis go first, leaning swiftly past the door to make a face before pulling it gently shut. 

If the guard had reached the corner a moment earlier he would have seen a little pink tongue and a pair of bright blue eyes shining gleefully at him before the Prince darted to the relative freedom of the royal gardens – massive by any standard and an adventure in the mind of the any child. 

On the other side, Ignis leaned against a stone pillar to calm down and catch his breath. He adjusted his scarf and glasses and patted his pockets to check he’d brought his supplies; a torch, a hand heater, a small bottle of water, and – most importantly – his telescope. The bag for it swung by his side, ready to help accomplish the task his Prince had begged of him that evening. 

“Iggy, look at the stars!! There’s so many!”

The boy followed the suggestion and found himself caught: millions of bright white lights hung glittering in the black Lucian silk tapestry above them. Backgrounds of light blue and silver made every point shine. He barely even had to squint to make out the constellations he’d learned to find as they hung clearl and proud in the night sky above, already settled despite the final traces of orange sunset still being chased beneath the horizon. 

He looked to his charge   
Noctis’ face was.. bright in every way. Shining with an underlying joy and youth that Ignis wanted to save, collect, hold in his hands and watch over until it was burned into his irises, a flash of his purpose with every blink. He loved knowing that he’d put that look there by agreeing to help sneak them both out – to see the midnight sky in the winter, to see if the moon’s light could reflect off the gathered snowfall as beautifully as the sun’s could, even though Ignis had tried to explain that the moon was merely reflecting the rays of the sun anyway. 

Despite knowing how outside of his duties this was, he felt warm and accomplished.   
His voice was quiet with a soft kind of awe. “Is it as you wanted it to be, Prince?”  
Noctis tore his eyes away from the shining tapestry and smiled at Ignis, his cheeks brushed a warm pink by the cool air. “It’s just like it was meant to be in the picture we drew together.. thanks for coming out with me Iggy.” he added, his years of social ettiquette training insisting that he show his gratitude clearly. “I know you feel nervous about doing this sort of stuff.”

Ignis shook his head and walked forward to hold Noct’s hand again, gathering his bearings to guide them towards the spot he’d found it easiest to gaze from. “It’s my job to guide you as you wish, so you don’t have to thank me really,” he smiled in return as they headed towards the gazebo, the seats beneath clear of the snow that coated the rest of the garden, “and I truly enjoy our trips too. So don’t worry.” 

It only took a few moments to set up the tripod and within moments they were both lost in the world of the sky, with Noctis pointing at the shapes and asking for their names and Ignis answering each question he could. Every time they found one neither of them knew, Noctis would lean over the book between them and they would search together. He loved it; the way it felt like they were discovering them together even as they found their listing. How Ignis looked so serious when he leant to peek through the scope at the stars Noctis had landed its view on. How clearly he recited his knowledge. 

“You’re..”   
Ignis looked at Noctis questioningly, noticing that his gaze was on him rather than turned above.

Noctis bit at his lip. It was hard to describe what he felt. His chest felt.. full. As though he had good things to pour out of it and he wanted to let Ignis know how grateful he was but it was more than that. It was the feelings that nobody else had ever given him. The relief of.. having someone to call his friend. “You’re really amazing, I wanted to say.” 

It felt embarrassing but the boy pressed onward. Ignis was watching him silently, with his face looking as though he was concentrating to figure out what Noctis was trying to tell him in the same way he would after Noctis had a nightmare. “For knowing all of this stuff. I’m lucky that you’re with me, is.. what I want to say.”

He could feel his face heating up as he stumbled over his words. “You’re my best friend...” It came out in a gentle tone and even though it was already something they knew and had said, words already familiar between them, it felt different to say it now. Proper. Official, like the ceremony he’d had when Clarus has told him Gladio would be his shield and they’d stood in front of the throne together. He wanted one of those now, for them and as best friend’s face coloured the same pink he was sure his own looked, he felt certain that it would be what Ignis wanted too. 

Ignis wasn’t sure what to say, unable to organise his own words in a way that felt adequate to respond to what he knew was a fully heartfelt confession from his Prince,who normally hid his feeling in his chest and only shared when he felt it was something he couldn’t understand on his own. It felt like a gift.   
“You’re my best friend too, Noct – even before my Prince, you’re-” It didn’t feel like enough. It felt like he’d been given a precious gift and he wanted to give something as precious back – to pull down a constellation and give it to his charge. To hold his hand and lead him beneath as many skies as he wanted. “You’ll always be my best friend. You’ll always be my first priority.”

Noctis took a deep breath and remembered those words carefully – always. A promise that he would return in the way he’d been taught; he’d make it stronger, as unbreakable as the bonds his dad had said tied him to his powers and his bloodline. He would have to improvise, but the words were all within him. Stars shone above them as he pulled them form his chest, filling them with the same sincereity colouring his heart in warmth despite the snow falling around them as clouds began to drift lazily above them.

“Ignis Scientia,” his voice wavered high then dipped, following his order as he tried to emulate the powerful flow of his father’s voice, “I hereby swear that I will lead you w.. with purity of heart. With reflected loyalty. I’ll look after you, Iggy.” He reached out and took his advisor’s hands, feeling stiff but strong. His conviction burned in his veins and he felt as though the crystal was watching their oath – like the Astrals he’d heard of in bedtime stories were listening as he’d been told they did. “I’ll keep you safe and never forget what you’ve done for me.” 

Ignis wanted to cry. He felt overwhelmed and hot, like his pride couldn't handle this surprise, this present he had been endowed with in return for something he would always do and had always done for his Prince. He wouldn’t let it pass, however – there was no ceremony for him lined up in the carefully planned years of the Prince’s life but he was being given one now and he would stand on their stage beneath the moonlight and meet his charge’s every promise. As was his duty. As was his will.

“I swear under oath to the crystal and my royal family,” he started, swallowing to prevent himself from choking up in this crucial, fragile moment that could have been missed as easily as the stars streaking above them, “that I will never leave your side. I will never waver in my dedication to you.” He couldn’t help it. No matter how serious he felt, or how much he knew he would eternally stand by this promise, he was only a child himself and though his voice stayed firm he could not stop the tears from rolling over his cheeks, leaving biting trails in the freezing air. “I’ll protect you with my life until the very end.” 

These were their vows. Their purpose in whatever short time on Eos would be granted to them before the end. As Ignis Scientia, in his fluffy coat and red winter boots, knelt before the Prince, wrapped tightly in a scarf covered in the prints of the magical creature he adored, he kissed his hand and it didn’t matter that they were years from their duties. That they were still children yet. 

Beneath their shelter in the garden of the palace that would someday fall to the boy with his cheeks tinged cherry red by the cold and his honestly and his advisor, who would guide his hand and heart, the two swore an oath that sung in the blood of the Prince and whispered to the crystal as he knelt too and pressed sweet, shy kiss to the lips that had touched his hand in pledge. 

 

Years later, when the they were so far from that stolen night together when two boys who snuck out to see the stars, the crystal would remember the promise its Chosen had made and in the form of a burst of light that had been building in every year since, it would honour it. 

Ignis Scientia would live and together they would stand forever united. Forever blessed.

**Author's Note:**

> wrote this for secret santa I think? I entered 2 and I wrote something for both, but in one of them my santa was a no show. do you ever wonder if it's because they died or got arrested or kidnapped and we just won't ever find out?
> 
> anyway here are my BOYS!


End file.
